Shamanhood : an Endangered Language, 9-14

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9. (pp. 121-71) Natalya Koshkaryova : "Biography of a Shaman" [Surgut H^anty]

p. 124 terminology

term

meaning

t>e,r

vision

mul

"oath, spoken during a sacrifice"

s^epan/c^ipan

sorcery

jole,mn

"song, performed during the shaman’ se’ance"

p. 127-30 surprise at being in another locality upon awakening after sleep-walking after a sledge-ride into the countryside

p.

l.

autobiographical statement

127

16

"So I fell asleep ...

 

17

And then suddenly I woke up. ...

128

24

Still where is my sledge? ...

129

30

I don’t know how this happened, that I took off my fur coat. ...

130

34

I began to look for my path. ...

 

38

I came to my fire, to the place where my tent was."

pp. 132, 142-4, 158 ascension to heaven (in dream); descriptions of site in heaven (encountered in dream)

p.

l.

autobiographical statement

132

48

"When I dream, I get to know some things.

 

49

I was taken upward, I was taken upward by someone. ...

142

104

I was taken ["taken upward" (p. 141)] ... .

 

105

It is said, these seven male reindeers, six male reindeers, attached to the pillar {cf. hitching-post for horses in the divine world, as seen in dreams by shamans of other Siberian tribes}, ... are bowing.

 

106

Seven white male reindeers {"the White Deer ... In Chinese myths it appears as a messenger of the Heavenly Emperor and ... in ... Shinto ... the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami ... appears as a White Deer carrying the solar disk which rests on the crown of the tree fixed to the saddle on her back." (B&B, p. 370) Likewise, a white deer is carrier of the sun in Codex Borgianus Mexicanus, p. 33.}, flashing as thin ice crust, are always there. ...

143

110

This inner porch, I was lead {sic : read "led"} along these seven traces of the silver bowl." [7 strings extending from the bowl (on the porch), through the doorway, into the house]

 

111

When I entered the house, in the sacred part of the house ["the front part of the house, considered sacred, where women are not allowed to enter" (p. 124)] there is as if the breathing of reindeers curling like haze, curling like fog.

 

112

Saon`i k<aon iki [‘Golden Khan Man’] is on this place, (beautifully) adorned with big wing feathers.

 

113

Our father To^re,m, he is sitting over there.

 

114

In the center of the house there are two arrows with white shafts. ...

144

117

I was taken to the house (many times for a while).

 

118

When I practice shamanism, I advance up to this place".

158

197

"I have seen the house of Heavenly Mother, standing on seven pillars." {cf. "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." (Mas^ale^ 9:1) – "The book of Proverbs itself is divided into 7 parts. Each of the sections starts out with a phrase such as "the words/proverbs of Solomon"". – The Seven Pillars of Wisdom are named ("SPW") : Counsel, Knowledge, Understanding, Might, Power, Riches, Honor}

B&B = Dmitry Ermakov : Bo/ and Bo:n. Vajra Publ, Kathmandu, 2008.

"SPW" = http://www.truevineministries.net/011023PM.HTM

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10. (pp. 173-8) Regina Nazarenko : "Shamanic Singing and Se’ances" [H^ant tribe]

p. 174 melody for invoking the 7-headed snake as spirit-guide

"Tcherty ko arekh No. 34 ... concerns the appeal for help from a seven-headed snake. The snake comes to the shaman and begins to lead him through the ground and the celestial trails."

p. 174-5 melody for invoking the spirits of fly-agaric

p. 174

"Pank arekh (a fly-agaric song) ... told about seven fly-agarics (spirit assistants) who[m] the shaman communicates with".

p. 175

"the tune ... Pank arekh ... is connected to all ... songs told about fly-agaric – spirit assistants – who conduct the shaman to the upper world. So, in a song .., fly-agarics come to the shaman through the ceiling hole, bring a book to write down all the shaman’s requests, and carry this book to the Supreme God."

p. 176 attributes of shaman’s drum

"round form of the membrane"

" "double" rim fitted using the leather of a three-year-old female deer – vazgenka (on the rim made from birch – no:l – are fixed the sounding poles – lapi -- ... on top of them there is a bird-cherry tree twig – sul’t)"

"mobile handle-fork hung with coins (a trident form of the handle ... when a shaman is going to Num Torum – the Supreme God)"

"image of a god carved on the internal side of rim ("the god looks into the drum")"

pp. 176-7 the parts of a shamanic se’ance (abbreviations : A[ssistant]; Sh[aman]; I[nitiator]; M[anagers of ritual])

p.

Part #

activity

176

0

"warms up the drum, inside at first then outside, at the same time ... establishing the necessary timbre. Some coins are attached to the handle of the drum. Then A. passes the drum to Sh. in a special way – turning it from the left to the right ("by the sun" [clockwise, deosil])."

 

I-II

"Sh. listens to the drum ("whether it wants to sing"), gets himself into a special mood, inviting the spirit assistants."

 

III

""The drum leads the Sh." Sh. addresses the Supreme God – Num Torum – and Mother Earth."

 

IV

"Sh. turns the drum clockwise. This action means that the road has been opened and that the Sh. will go there. He will go on a track prepared by his ancestors, finding their tracks."

 

V

"An image of Sh. "is separated"; he directs it and his spirit assistants – 7 cranes with a pattern on their necks – to a city, where I. lives."

177

VI

"Sh. remembers his mother, her mood when she was acting as a shamaa[ess]. The assistant of his mother – a deer – has now become an assistant of the shaman."

 

VII-X

"Sh. meditates on the different peoples, various languages".

 

XI

"Sh. addresses the fire, asks for the authority to intercede for I."

 

XII

"Sh. receives the authority from the fire."

 

XIII

"Sh. reflects on shamanhood".

 

XIV

"Sh. proves the cause of the illness."

 

XV

"Sh. begins to dance around the fire – which means that Sh. goes into a tra[n]ce. The ritual exclamations by M. urge on the thoughts of Sh. The shamanic dance comes to an end when Sh[.] comes out of his trance."

 

XVI

"Sh. remembers those places where he went in his trance ... . After that Sh. passes back the drum to A. in the same manner as at the beginning of the se’ance; and he turns it toward M., who are supposed to beat the drum according to tradition."

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11. (pp. 179-90) Jelena Glavatskaya : "Revived Gods" [H^anty (= Ostyak) tribe]

p. 184 sacred lake

"in the Upper Kazym lies lake Num-To, the most important among the sacred places of the Khanty. The center of this sacred ground is found on an island in the middle of the lake and was devoted to Vut-Imi, a female deity of the Khanty."

p. 186 becoming a shaman

A man "was in ill health for seven years, often unconscious, hearing inner voices. It was during that time that he learned everything he would need in his future activity as a shaman (La`za`r 1997:45)."

La`za`r 1997 = K. La`za`r (ed.) : Studies on Surgut Ostyak Culture. Budapest.

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12. (pp. 191-8) Vilmos Voigt : "Shamanic Vocabulary in Hungarian"

p. 192 shamanism

"historical sources (and later fieldwork notes) in Hungary speak of

ecstasies,

flying witches,

persons who "see the dead’ – an external soul in the form of a small animal, ...

auxiliary spirits used to acquire treasures ... etc."

p. 193 terms from the Hungarian "old" religion

a`ld / a`ldozat ‘benediction / sacrifice"

ba`lva`ny ‘idol’

e`g ‘heaven’

Hold ‘Moon’

Isten ‘God’

mano` (of a) ‘dwarf’

Nap ‘Sun’

o:rdo:g ‘devil’

o:ro:m ‘joy’

p. 193 divination with scissors {cf. scissors held by goddess C^hinna-masta (‘Split-brain’)

"mantic techniques using scissors embedded in a sieve or winnow for locating lost items in Hungary and

(See the entry rostaforgata`s ‘window-turning’ by Dio`szegi and Ta`rka`ny Szu:cs in Magyar Ne`prajzi Lexikon vol. IV:373;

a similar technique for diagnosing illness in Cebuano sorcery ... .

for the Philippines, see Lieban 1967:82, picture on 84-85, bottom right.)"

Lieban 1967 = Richard W. Lieban : Cebuano Sorcery. Berkeley.

pp. 194-5 shamanic terminology

p.

term

meaning

194

tor

originally ‘feast for the dead’

 

ne`zo:; la`to`

‘seer’

195

rego:s

‘jester’

 

rejte`ly

‘secret, mystery’

 

rejtve`ny

‘riddle, puzzle’

pp. 195-6

p. 195

" "wise men" (people with supernatural power) in Hungarian folk belief legends often learn their strength pr knowledge during a period of "disappearing" from public places, and the term for that is /el/rejto:zik ... .

p. 196

In fact, Hungarian folk legend texts ... mention ... elrejteze`s mostly in connection with the "learning period" of supernatural knowledge."

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13. (pp. 199-206) Risto Pulkkinen : "Forest Finn Culture Revival"

p. 204 Finnish folk-culture magazines

"A magazine named Finnbygden was published in 1924-29 (11 volumes) in northern Va:rmland. The magazine tried to enlighten the people about their culture ... .

This was followed by a short-lived magazine Va:rmland i ord och bild in 1940-41. ...

Another magazine entitled Finnbygden lasted from 1947 to 1976.

This was followed by the magazine Finnkultur, which is till being published."

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14. (pp. 207-18) Takako Yamada : "Language and Rituals of the Ainu"

pp. 208-9, 214, 216 religious terminology

p.

term

meaning

208

iwor

"area in which kamu[i] [spirits] (hunting-, fishing-, or gathering-ground)

209

inau

"specially carved sticks" {whittled}

 

nusa-san

"cluster of inau" ("set up like a fence" outside "the sacred window")

 

yukar

epic songs

 

uwepeker

prose stories

214

ic^arpa

memorial services for the dead

216

upopo

song (accompanying a dance)

 

rimuse

round dance

p. 214 localities (in Hokkaido) of festivals

festival

locality where performed

c^ip-sanke ("launching ritual for a dugout canoe")

Biratori

raomap kamui-nomi ("prayer for the salmon trap")

Noboribetsu

smelt festival

Mukawa; Monbetsu; S^iranuka

as^ir-c^ep-nomi ("first salmon ceremony")

C^itose; Sapporo

funbe (whale) festival

S^iranuka

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INSTITUTTET FOR SAMMENLIGNENDE KULTURFORSKNING (INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE RESEARCH IN HUMAN CULTURE), Serie B : "Skrifter", CXVII = Juha Pentika:inen & Pe`ter Simoncsics (ed.s) : Shamanhood : an endangered language. Novus Forlag, Oslo, 2005.